I could be wrong about this, but the occasion of Bobby Jindal dropping out of the presidential race has caused me to consider my theory again. Basically, I don’t think any Republican from the South can win the presidency. Now, I know that we just had George W. Bush who at least won one out of two of his elections, but he was the son of a Connecticut Yankee. I don’t think Tom DeLay or Dick Armey or Pete Sessions or Ted Cruz could ever win over enough Americans to get themselves into the Oval Office.
Florida is a special case, so let’s put that aside, and I think maybe a Virginian might be able to win. But if you’re from the Deep South, from Louisiana or Mississippi or Alabama, I just don’t think most Americans are going to trust you.
This is why I never took Jindal’s candidacy seriously, even though he obviously isn’t the prototypical white Southern conservative politician. I don’t take Lindsey Graham seriously, and I didn’t take Ron Paul seriously, and I wouldn’t take Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III seriously if he chose to run for the presidency.
The guys who scare me are the ones that come from blue states. Romney never had a chance but he had the right profile. Govs. Walker and Kasich (or even Christie) are much dangerous general election candidates than anyone representing the Old Confederacy.
It used to be that the Democrats needed to be Southern to have a chance. I think it’s flipped now and the Republicans need to be northern. And, maybe Virginia and Florida are really northern enough these days to be exceptions.
What do you think?
